He’s making this so hard. “You don’t understand,” I say stiffly. “Humans aren’t welcome anywhere but Earth. If I go with you, I’m not safe anywhere. There’s always going to be someone that’ll touch me, or try to steal me away, because humans aren’t important. You won’t be able to protect me. Not every minute of every hour of every day.” I shake my head. “Even if I wanted to go with you, I can’t.”
Vordigar nods. “I get it.”
I don’t know if he does. I don’t know if he ever will. But I smile at him and eat my noodles, because there’s nothing else to say. We eat in silence, and I keep thinking about his offer. To leave with him. To just…go. It’s so tempting.
“Thank you,” I say to him quietly. When he looks up at me, confused, I add, “For offering to take me with you.”
His mouth quirks in a devastatingly sexy smile. I don’t know if he’s handsome by mesakkah standards, but I love his grin and I love how ready it is. That makes him handsome in my eyes. “I admit my reasons aren’t entirely unselfish.”
I chuckle, toying with my noodles. “Does that mean you want to have sex again tonight?”
“You offering?” His tone gets low. Husky. Erotic.
I don’t trust my voice to answer. I look up at him and nod, my heart pounding. When he puts his hand out toward me, I take it.
I’ll think about the future in the morning. For tonight, there’s only Vordigar and pleasure.
VORDIGAR
I wake up with Piper in the bed next to me, watching me sleep. Her pretty face is always so serious, but she smiles shyly at me when I reach for her. I think about last night, how she came eagerly into my arms, full of trust and excitement at my touch. I made her come hard several times, and then took her roughly over and over, because I couldn’t help myself. There’s something about her that appeals to the feral side in me. Maybe it’s those little cries she makes when I’m deep inside her, or the look of wonder on her face as she comes. Maybe it’s the way she gazes at me when we’re done. As if I’ve made everything in her world just a little bit better.
I’m getting far too addicted to that feeling.
“Will you go into port with me today?” she asks, watching me.
I rub my eyes, wanting to drag her back down against me for another round of sex. Her gaze flicks to my mouth and she blushes, and it’s clear she’s thinking the same thing.
“You don’t want to stay in bed?”
Piper smiles. “I do. But I can’t. There’s too much to do.”
I grunt. I guess on a farm, there’s always something that needs to be done. No sleeping late or rolling around in the bed here. “All right. I’m getting up.”
“And you’ll go into port with me?” she asks again.
“What do you need in port?” I think about the shops there. “Supplies? Parts?”
She doesn’t hesitate. “I need to look for a new husband, and I’ll feel safer in port if I have someone at my side. So I can’t get taken advantage of.”
I stare at her, a little stunned. “You want me to help you go find a keffing husband? After leaving my bed?”
Her cheeks flush. “What we have together is…wonderful.” Her voice catches. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m in danger.”
“I said I’d send some credits back. Give me a month or two.”
Piper shakes her head and looks down at her hands. “You don’t understand, Vordigar. I might not have a month or two. The moment you leave…” She purses her lips, cutting off her own words. “It isn’t important. Look. I like you being here. I like it more than I ever thought I would.” She fusses at a piece of lint on the blankets. “But it doesn’t change my situation at all. You’re leaving in two days—one day—and if I don’t find someone to take me up on my offer, I know I’m going to lose my farm and my freedom. I can’t let that happen.” She turns those big brown eyes on me. “Please understand.”
I hate it.
I hate that she needs to go from my arms right into the arms of another. To marry him so he can get her pregnant. Last night we used plas-film again, and she gloved me in it without question. She won’t push her needs on me. She won’t trap me into getting her pregnant. She’s giving me a choice, because freedom is important to her.
Piper is mine. The timing’s all wrong, and even though this is fast, my mesakkah blood knows that she’s my female. The thought of giving her over to someone else fills me with helpless rage and frustration…but how can I ask her to risk her life? If she says two months is too long, I can’t ask her to wait for me.